We have two interviews for you today, first up Mike Prunty “The Backyard Pioneer” who has a small urban homestead in Long Island New York on his experience with Hurricane Sandy.

Mike is a 39 year old suburban husband and father, he works as a Lineman for Verizon and is an avid hunter and do it yourselfer. He heats with wood and grows a big garden each year. This year he started to get into using a smoker and has his first batch of home brew going right now. Unfortunately like many in the North East his progress was more then slightly impeded by Super Storm Sandy.

Today Mike joins us to discuss Hurricane Sandy and it’s immediate after math for his family and how our basic preps made life easier. Today we discuss the last minute preps he made and how that made a big difference along with what it was like living on generator power for an extended period.

We also talk to mike about how his friends and neighbors reacted to his skills and knowledge during the event. Then we discuss what Mike calls the “indispensable prep” and how it made the biggest difference of all. Finally we finsh up with after now experiencing a big disaster what Mike will do differently and what holes in his preps were exposed.

Craig discusses the on going threat of CCD, natural bee keeping and the concept of “small cell” bee keeping and how it can drastically improve the bees ability to withstand the virola mights that are currently a huge problem for many keepers.

We also discuss the advantages of the warre hive and how it is sort of a cross roads between top bar and conventional bee keeping including the huge advantage of being able to take honey off the top of the hive.

We also discuss how to improve the virility of your hive, how to raise bees with no chemicals and how owning bees can drastically improve your results on the homestead beyond honey production.

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

Ned Farrell has been a beekeeper for the last 24 years. Part of his beekeeping experience was in Paraguay, South America, teaching farmers how to keep honeybees with the local African (killer) bees.

Ned uses and teaches people how to keep bees with both the modern Langstroth hives common in the U.S., along with what he considers “more appropriate technology”, top bar hives common in other parts of the world.

Ned like many beekeepers feels the honeybee in the United States is in trouble. tis is due to a combination of factors like the overuse of pesticides, attacks by predatory mites, and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Due to these occurances honeybee numbers in the U.S. are dwindling at an alarming rate.

Ned wants people to understand that only honeybees can pollinate our flowers and crops to the extent we need. Honey, with all of its nuances and health benefits, can be produced only by bees. Our vast scientific knowledge cannot manufacture hive products in the laboratory. Without the honeybee to take care of pollination and to create the hive products, we are in trouble.

He joins us today to discuss how we can help the bees reestablish the populations many of us remember from the not so distant past. How to get started bee keeping and why top bar hives really are all they are cracked up to be. We also discuss how you can keep bees just about anywhere and where to get the equipment you need to get started.

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

Phil Chandler got his “wake-up call” in 1971 when he met Edward Goldsmith who was about to launch The Ecologist magazine. Phil lived for several years in the 1970s a hut in the hills in northern England, learning to fend for himself by hunting, growing, learning about farming.

Along the way he started own printing business, published local magazines, and later progressed to data processing when computers became available. He even taught IT for a while, then ran rehab project for people with disabilities, many ex-military.

Phil heavily campaigned against GM crops in 1990s, during which time he came to realize the real importance of bees and other pollinators. It was at that time that he took up beekeeping in 2000. His research on modern methods led him to conclude that things needed to change. So he experimented with hives and settled on top bar hive. A few years ago he wrote “The Barefoot Beekeeper” which has now sold over 15,000 copies worldwide .

Tim joins us today to discuss natural beekeeping for homesteaders and survivalists and answers questions like, Why are bee so important?, What’s wrong with modern beekeeping? What needs to change with modern agriculture? What can the average non-beekeeper do to help the bees? and What is special about “natural beekeeping”?

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.